AUTHOR'S NOTE:
How's everyone doing out there? Still on board with Bella and ITward? I'm so excited for you all to really get to know them. Thanks, as always, for sharing your thoughts and theories! Love to my pre-readers, who finally got some new content from me, and to Mel, for helping make sure everything sounds just right!
– HAPPENSTANCE –
Chapter Ten
"Oh my god, this looks just like what we had when I was a kid!" An equal mix of nostalgic and horrified, I point out the gaudiest tree in the store, covered in multi-colored blinking lights, clumps of silver tinsel, striped and spotted plastic balls, and an assortment of other random ornaments with no apparent theme whatsoever. It's hideous, but also kind of heartwarming, and I can't stop myself from glaring at him when Edward snickers softly beside me.
"What, did you have a solid-gold tree in your picture-perfect house on Fancy-Pants Lane?" I snark, regretting my outburst immediately when he looks down at me in alarm.
"What? No, definitely not. Ours looked a lot like this, too, actually." Edward's hands dig even deeper into his pockets as his teeth sink into one side of his bottom lip. He looks so concerned, his forehead furrowed and a crease between his bright-green eyes, that I want to smack myself and my big, impulsive mouth for putting him in this position.
"I'm sorry," I tell him sincerely. "That was totally uncalled for on my part. I just bristled a little when you laughed at my memory."
Edward shrugs. "I laughed because I was remembering my brother putting me in a chokehold one Christmas morning when my parents mixed up our wish lists and gave me everything he'd asked for. It was pretty cool stuff that I refused to trade, and he completely flipped his lid. We ended up kicking the tree over into the fireplace, and the whole thing went up in flames. It was a total fiasco, but in the end Emmett got grounded and I got to keep the Discman, so . . ." He trails off with a small, amused smirk on his face, and now I'm the one giggling.
"Okay, that's wild. Nothing that exciting ever happened around my house on Christmas morning. Gifts, breakfast, and then my dad would watch movies while I spent the rest of the day reading whatever new books I got up in my room."
"That sounds nice, too," Edward says, and it occurs to me that he just opened up and shared a little story about himself, despite the fact that he appears to prefer not talking to people at all. He claims to keep mostly to himself, and yet here he is, talking to me. A warmth blooms in my cheeks and travels down the rest of my body, making my heart thump a few extra beats.
"It was," I reply, smiling up at him. "And you know what? So is this."
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